Selective Locomotion of Living Worms by Magnetically Reconfigurable Microtopography
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초록
내용
Small scale artificial robots have been designed to accomplish behaviors which humans cannot do in limited spaces by imitating living animals. However, current robots are difficult to mimic multi modal and curvilinear locomotion of animals with mechanosensing ability. In this study, Caenorhabditis elegans is suggested as microscale worm biobots locomoting on magnetically shape-reconfigurable three-dimensional microtopography. The worm navigates among microbarriers periodically arranged in microtopography while preventing omega turns and random swimming. Then, when applying magnetic field, the microbarriers implement magnetomechanical actuations and provide the worm with micronscale spatial confinement. Spacings and height of the barriers decrease at high magnetic field, and this enable the worm to convert behaviors from navigating to circumventing or climbing behaviors. We would discuss a potential to develop a biomedical platform using the correlation between the microtopography-induced locomotion and mechanosensory neurons that could be improved through drug treatments.